Subtitles section Play video
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[intro music]
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Hi everyone. My name is Jordan Mackenzie and I'm a graduate student
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at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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I'm going to talk to you today about a type of informal fallacy
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known as the argumentum ad populum fallacy or the Appeal to the People Fallacy.
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Now let's start with a walk down memory lane.
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Do you remember ever trying to cajole your parents into buying you the latest fad toy, say a Furby
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by whining about how everyone at school thought that Furbies were the best toy ever
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so they must really be the best toy ever.
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Your parents probably responded by saying something like:
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"If everyone at school jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff?"
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Your parents were, in fact, calling you out for making an appeal to the people
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and for reasons that will become clear as you watch this video, they were perfectly right to do so.
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Let's take a closer look at how this fallacy works.
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An appeal to the people tries to establish the truth of some claim "P"
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on the basis that a lot of people believe P to be true.
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Because it is an informal fallacy, rather than a formal fallacy,
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we know that there is something wrong with its content rather than its form.
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In this case, the content that the argument provides in support of its conclusion simply isn't sufficient
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or even necessarily relevant to establishing the truth of that conclusion.
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An example will help clarify things.
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Suppose you and your friend are arguing over whether or not Justin Bieber has any musical talent.
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Your friend says, "Of course he has musical talent!
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Millions upon millions of fans can't possibly be wrong!"
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If you wanted to formalize your friend's argument, it would look something like this:
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Premise 1): Millions of people think Justin Bieber has musical talent.
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Conclusion: Therefore, Justin Bieber has musical talent.
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Now, if you think there's something fishy about this argument, you're right.
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The big problem with this argument is that it tries to establish the truth of its conclusion
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that is, that Justin Bieber has musical talent,
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by appealing to the fact that many people believe that conclusion to be true.
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But this simply doesn't follow.
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Something can be true, even if everyone believes it to be false.
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And something can be false, even if everyone believes it to be true.
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Now, I don't mean to say that we should always completely disregard popular opinion
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when we're trying to figure out whether or not something is true or false.
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Often, the fact that most people believe in the truth of some claim
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does actually give us at least some reason to think that that claim really is true.
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If, for example, you find out that 98% of your sociology class
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thought that the answer to question five on the exam was "C,"
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it would be reasonable for you to think that "C" probably was indeed the right answer.
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After all, if they all managed to arrive at that answer,
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it was probably because they properly studied for the test.
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You would be committing a fallacy, however, if you thought that the answer to question five
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was "C" BECAUSE 98% of your sociology class had answered the question that way.
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So, while popular support may give you a reason to BELIEVE a claim to be true
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It is very rarely, itself, the thing that MAKES that claim true.
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Note that I said "very rarely" and not "never."
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In fact, there are a few cases in which Appeals to Popularity are NOT fallacious.
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Consider etiquette: if I am trying to argue that it is rude in India to leave one's shoes on indoors
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it is very reasonable for me to appeal to the fact that most people in India
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think that it's rude to leave one's shoes on indoors.
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In this case, the content to which I am appealing,
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that is, the opinions of the Indian population,
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is completely relevant to the conclusion that I am trying to establish.
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Or, suppose that you are having an argument with a friend about how this letter is pronounced in Canadian English.
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Here's a situation where there would be nothing wrong about making an argument like,
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"Almost everyone in Canada says 'zed'
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so the correct pronunciation in Canadian English must be 'zed' and not 'zee.'
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Keep in mind, however, that these examples are the exceptions and not the rule.
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Most of the time it's a good idea to be suspicious of arguments
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that attempt to establish the truth of the conclusion by appealing to popular opinion.
